Energy prices change very regularly and rates vary by area, meter type, yearly energy consumption and many other factors – so there is no 1 overall cheapest supplier.

But through our renewals service we research over 27 UK energy suppliers (including the BIG 6) to find the cheapest rates available by meter on your behalf. In order to compare prices as a business you would need to call a few suppliers directly to get quotes and compare the rates yourself.

We do that for you and create a bespoke summary of offers by meter for you to choose from. We also have access to some tariffs that are not available directly to the user, so we are confident that we will find you the cheapest rates. You can then choose the cheapest annual cost by meter, or if you have multiple meters and want to be billed by a single supplier you can choose to go with the overall cheapest supplier.

There is no administration fee or additional cost for using our service.

The rates that we quote include any fees – we are rewarded directly by our broker partner. Our service carries no obligation.

We use the information that you provide us with and input it into a broker portal.

The information we need from you for each meter is:

• The meter national grid serial number.
• The supply site address.
• Your annual energy consumption in kWh units.
• Your contract end date.
• Your current supplier.

The portal works very much like other quoting comparison sites and produces a cost comparison of business energy market offers for you to choose from.

We research over 27 UK energy suppliers (including the BIG 6) to find the cheapest rates available by meter on your behalf. In order to compare prices as a business you would need to call a few suppliers directly to get quotes and compare the rates yourself.

We save you the time by doing that for you and create a bespoke summary of offers by meter for you to choose from. We also have access to some tariffs that are not available directly to the user, so we are confident that we will find you the cheapest rates.

You can then choose the cheapest annual cost by meter, or if you have multiple meters and want to be billed by a single supplier you can choose to go with the overall cheapest supplier. Once you have chosen who you want to renew with we provide you with the contract and then using a letter of authority form yourself (which we provide you with the template for) we organise the renewal/switch for you with the suppliers.

All you need to do is take a meter reading on the day of the switch and then you will receive your bills direct from the supplier.

The market is currently at an all decade low due to the global oil price crashing and very low consumption as affected by the Covid situation.

So we are confident that we can save you money versus your current rates as we will sign you up for today’s low rates.

We research over 27 UK energy suppliers (including the BIG 6) to find the cheapest rates available and only recommend fixed rate contracts; so that whatever you sign up for you know you will not pay any more, even if the market rates go up again.

The information we need from you for each meter is:

1. the meter national grid serial number (MPAN for electricity and MPR for gas meters)
2. the supply site address
3. your annual energy consumption in kWh units
4. your contract end date
5. your current supplier
6. how long you want to sign for 1,2,3,4, or 5 years

For half hour maximum demand meters you will also need to give us your kVa value and tell us who your meter operator (MOP) agreement is with.

No. We organise the new contract to kick in seamlessly. There will be no loss of supply.

All you need to do is take a meter reading on the day of the switch and then you will receive your bills direct from the supplier.

Energy contracts automatically end and are annulled when you leave a premises. You simply need to give your current supplier notice (usually 30 days) and pay up any monies owing up to when you vacate the premises.

When you move into a new premises a change of tenancy process must be followed to transfer the legal responsibility for the procurement of the energy of the premises into the new occupiers name.

We can manage the COT process for you using a letter of authority provided by yourselves. A change of tenancy usually takes 30 days to process from completion of the COT form. Then once the COT has been completed we can quote for the best new fixed offer contact for the premises as outlined in question.

We also manage all renewal admin, any account terminations and calls on your behalf to save you time and effort.

Information we need from you regarding your new premises:

• Business name.
• The new unit address.
• The national grid supply serial meter number of your new unit.
• The name of the current supplier at the unit.
• The date that you will move into the new unit.
• A copy of the lease agreement of the new unit (once you decide to proceed with an offer of supply).

What is a half hour meter:

A half-hourly electricity meter is a special type of metering system which uses AMR (automatic meter reading) technology to provide an accurate electricity reading. The system sends updated meter reads to the energy supplier via mobile phone signals or a fixed data line every 30 minutes. A half hour meter is compulsory for businesses that have a maximum demand of 100kW or higher during any half hour period of the day. This is known in the industry as the code modification P272.

Uses of data:

Once you have access to your personalised consumption data there are three main uses for this information.

1. Calculating a unit charge and daily rate to produce your invoices. Because the data is automatically read, bills are never estimated and are 100% accurate
2. Historical data is used for negotiating on your next electricity contract
3. Manage usage and implement efficiency programmes via an energy management system

Other considerations for half hour meters:

It is also legislation that every half hour meter needs to have a kVa capacity rating and a MOP agreement.

1. kVa capacity rating – kVA is a common electrical term used to describe the amount of electrical power that a meter can feed to a building or site. It stands for Kilo Volt Amperes and one KVA equals 1,000 Watts of power. The kVa value is a capacity charge for the half hour meter and needs to be accurate for the premises maximum capacity requirement as since the P272 legislation businesses who declare a lower value (which will have a lower kVa monthly capacity charge) will be penalised in high overcharges for any capacity used above the kVa rating that they have declared. Your bill should state your kVa value and any overages. We can help you assess if your kVa value is adequate for your premises requirements.
2. meter operator (MOP) agreement – By law all half hour meters need to have a meter operator or MOP agreement too. This service can be from your existing energy supplier and built into your normal bill, or from another data collection specialist and billed completely separately to your normal electricity supply bill, for example Siemens offer this service too. When a half hour meter contract is renewed without a MOP service included, the new supplier will ask who the current meter operator is as they need to liaise with them in order to start receiving the meter data once the new contract goes live.

Customers who have had their old non half hour meter upgraded to a half hour meter will legally need to sign up to a MOP agreement and start using this service. We offer a choice of tariffs that include, or exclude, MOP service charges.

Bespoke quoting for half hour meters:  

1. In order to get you the best prices for your half hourly meter we follow a bespoke quoting prices which takes between 2-4 weeks.
2. The reason it takes this amount of time is because we contact your current supplier (using a letter of authority from yourselves) to obtain a spreadsheet of your last year’s meter usage by half hour reading. It usually takes between 5-15 working days to get this information back from your supplier.
3. Once the information is back we use it to produce a bespoke tender, which we issue to the top corporate suppliers in the market. They will look at exactly when you use your energy and make you an offer for their best unit rates for your consumption in terms of total units used per annum and time when your units are used.
4. It then takes a minimum of 5 working days for your bespoke offers to be requested and collated into a price comparison for you to review. The prices are only valid from 12.00pm -4.00pm on the day that the price comparison is issued, so it is important that any decision makers are available to review the prices on that day and that they can sign the contract and direct debit for the offer that they want to proceed with. We schedule in a conference call with you for that day.
5. If the decision is not made on that day then the prices will all need completely refreshing and this takes a minimum of 2 further working days.
6. Once a decision is made we issue you with the relevant contract/s and once signed the prices are locked in on that date to kick in when your current contract ends.
7. Most quotes that we provide are brown fixed rate tariffs, however ‘pass through’ tariffs and ‘green’ tariffs are available as well on request.

The information we need from you for each half hour meter in order to quote is:

1. a signed letter of authority from yourselves on your business letter head
2. the meter national grid serial number (MPAN for electricity and MPR for gas meters)
3. the kVa capacity rating for electricity meters
4. who your meter operator (MOP) agreement is with
5. the supply site address
6. the contract end date
7. the current supplier
8. how long you want to sign for 1,2,3,4, or 5 years

Who do I contact to get my meter upgraded?

You will need to contact your existing supplier directly to see if your premises will be suitable for a smart meter. Sometimes physical conditions can prevent a smart meter from working  e.g. if the  ‘Wide Area Network’, or WAN, network coverage is poor in your area or if your meter is stored in a metal box this disrupts the signal that enables meters to send readings back to the supplier. Also smart gas meters can only send their signal a short distance, and they need to be able to talk to your electricity meter to send readings to your supplier, so if your gas and electricity meters are more than 32ft (10m) apart the service won’t work either.

How much does it cost to have a smart meter installed?

Most suppliers have their own roll out programme for upgrading current meters to smart meters. Having a smart meter installed doesn’t cost you upfront. They’re ‘free’ to install as part of the government’s 2020 smart meter rollout. But energy companies should not tell you that smart meters are ‘free’ because the nation will pay for them indirectly through increased energy bills. The smart meter roll-out is estimated to cost almost £11bn, with the roll-out adding around £390 to the total bill of the average dual-fuel household.

Customers will need to pay if they want to organise a smart meter install outside of their supplier’s standard regional roll out programme. Wherever possible it is worth waiting for your supplier to upgrade your meter for you as part of their plans. They will contact you directly when you are on their list.

Will my current smart meter work if I switch supplier?

With the older style smart meters (called SMETS1 technology) sometimes this service may be limited, or not supported by the new supplier. In this instance the meter will need to be upgraded to a new technology more flexible second-generation SMETS2 smart meters which should work across supplier systems – until then you may need to submit meter readings to your new supplier directly, even though you didn’t need to with your previous supplier as the readings were transmitted automatically.

We offer usage reviews where we can analyse your gas and electricity usage and highlight any unusual peaks or troughs for you to review.

If you have electric vehicles we can also help you with the installation of EVC points.

We can also help with solar panel installations supplier sourcing.

Can I cancel my contract early before the contract end date?

No. Energy contracts will only end for 2 reasons – if the occupier leaves the premises or if the occupier goes bust. So if you are in a contract for your energy you must stay with that supplier at the rates you have agreed until that contract ends.

However you can future sign into another contract with the same or a different supplier to start the day after your current contract ends. In fact you can future sign up to 5 years in advance for your energy supply.

How do I cancel my contract?

The supplier needs to be notified in writing of the date that you wish to terminate giving the required period of notice (usually 30 days). You then simply need to pay up any monies outstanding on that account when you receive the final bill through from the supplier.

If we have a trading agreement with your supplier then we can cancel your contract on your behalf, using a letter of authority provided from yourselves, to save you time. If we do not work with your supplier, then we can still provide an email template for you to forward to your supplier to make is easier for you.

Should I wait until nearer my contract end date to resign my business gas and electricity contracts?

Definitely not. The UK energy market is currently at an all decade low due to the global oil price crashing and very low consumption as affected by the Covid situation.

We only recommend fixed rate contracts; so that whatever you sign up for you know you will not pay any more, even if the market rates go up again.